Airhead Composting Toilet hacks

[Gyrophoenix]

Been using the AHCT fulltime, and honestly wasn't sure how it would turn out. I can now absolutely say it's one of the best inventions since sliced bread. It has more than met my expectations. Not only is it easy to use and maintain, it saves a considerable amount of water. Although their website says the composting part needs to be emptied about every 30 days (two people using it once a day), I've found it needs to be emptied about once every 5 or 6 weeks, with one person using it daily. Still, that's a pretty good period of time.

The best hack to extend the period of time between "servicing" is not to put any toilet paper into the toilet. Purchase a small trash can, such as this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07S84T5CP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 for the toilet paper. I was really worried that an odor would emanate from the can when it was opened, but it contains a replaceable carbon pack to absorb odor, and when opened for the split second it takes to put a piece of used toilet paper in, no odor is discernable. The can seals air tight when closed. Think of how many rolls of toilet paper you use in 6 weeks. That's the volume you're not putting into the toilet, which really helps extend the intervals of service.

To make the "composting" of what you put into the toilet really work well, I use these: Amazon.com
However, instead of putting in the whole brick into the bottom of the holding bucket when it's serviced, I put in half a brick.
Then, about 2 or 3 weeks later I put in the other half, on top of what's already in the holding bucket. It's amazing how much better the contents are composted.

Those are my suggestions, and I hope they're useful for those of you using the Airhead.

 

[Martian]

Sorry but using the toilet only once a day would be more than just unhealthy.

 

[SeilerBird]

Sorry but using the toilet only once a day would be more than just unhealthy.

I think it means one poop per day, which is more than I do. Once every two or three days is my average. I have been using a small trash can for toilet paper for years. No problem of smell since I put my liter box droppings in the same trash can.

 

[Gyrophoenix]

Yes, SeilerBird, you understood it correctly.....

 

[Martian]

Much better!

 

[Gizmo]

i installed an Airhead composting toilet in our last 2-RV's, actually removed it from the first and re-installed in the second RV. We were also full-time at the time. Agree with your assessment and experience. Since we were full-time, I plumbed the pee tank directly to the black tank. We started out using coco coir and switched to Miracle Grow Spagnum peet moss because it was available in many places, the Miracle Grow bags were the exact amount we needed and did not require spritzing with water and mixing. We just got back into RV'ing and this this time I installed the Ogo compost toilet, a new player to the game since our Airhead. I have to say as much as we liked the Airhead, which was a very good compost toilet, we are liking the Ogo a lot better. For one it has a smaller foot print in part because it has an electric operated agitator from the base and internal. Once done with your business all that is required to agitate and mix the material is to press a button which runs the agitator for about 45- seconds and stops. The same button is also a red light which lights when the pee tank is close to full.

 

[Gyrophoenix]

It just occurred to me I forgot one last suggestion in the original post:
As convenient as it may sound to use a coffee filter as a "carrier", DON'T!! In reality you're not going to need to do that much cleaning, as once you figure out the right place to position yourself on the seat, rarely will you soil the upper part of the toilet. They've designed the placement of the hole very well.

But that's not the MAIN reason not to use the coffee filters. The real reason is that although they do decompose, it takes them much longer than anything else. So they get wound up around the agitator, and soon form a large ball that pretty much makes the agitator ineffective. Plus, the ball of compacted coffee filters is a real mess to clean off the agitator.

Hope the advice helps some others....

 

[Oldgator73]

But that's not the MAIN reason not to use the coffee filters. The real reason is that although they do decompose, it takes them much longer than anything else. So they get wound up around the agitator, and soon form a large ball that pretty much makes the agitator ineffective. Plus, the ball of compacted coffee filters is a real mess to clean off the agitator.

We had a composting toilet in our cabin in Virginia. You are correct about anything but waste in the bowl. If that agitator cannot freely turn you will have a heck of a time cleaning the gunk off it. We used peat moss and never put TP in the toilet. When it was time to dump the tank we put it in the tractor bucket and took it to the compost pile behind the chicken coop. We did get knats in the toilet though. Hard to get rid of. I did not enjoy emptying the urine bucket.

 

[Gizmo]

I agree, although we did not have any agitation issues because of coffee filters or toilet paper, we found we had to dump more frequently.